After weeks of teases and speculation, Valorant’s new agent has finally been confirmed to be the Initiator KAY/O. Riot Games wasted no time showcasing what KAY/O is capable of, showcasing its new abilities in a hype-worthy gameplay trailer. Let’s all go watch it and then circle back:
The trailer is quite flashy and pretty entertaining, to say the least; however, it can be a bit hard to follow exactly what KAY/O is doing without knowing what its abilities actually are. Fortunately, Riot Games was able to confirm to us all of KAY/O’s abilities. Here they are along with their official tooltips via Riot Games:
(E) ZERO/point
- Official Tool Tip
- EQUIP a suppression blade. FIRE to throw. The blade sticks to the first surface it hits, winds up, and suppresses anyone in the radius of the explosion.
(Q) FLASH/drive
- Official Tool Tip
- EQUIP a flash grenade. FIRE to throw. The flash grenade explodes after a short fuse, blinding anyone in line of sight.
- Notable Mechanics
- Right Clicking the flashbang, throws a charged flash, causing it to only have to cook for 1 second, as opposed to left click throwing a flash that cooks in 1.6 seconds.
(C) FRAG/ment
- Official Tool Tip
- EQUIP an explosive fragment. FIRE to throw. The fragment sticks to the floor and explodes multiple times, dealing near lethal damage at the center with each explosion.
(X) NULL/cmd
- Official Tool Tip
- INSTANTLY overload with polarized radianite energy that empowers KAY/O and causes large energy pulses to emit from his location. Enemies hit with these pulses are suppressed for a short duration.
- Notable Mechanics
- While Overloaded, KAY/O gains Combat Stim
- If KAY/O is killed while overloaded, he is downed and enters a destabilized state, allowing allies to stabilize his core and revive him.
John Goscicki, character producer on Valorant, and Ryan Cousart KAY/O game designer both spoke a bit about the thought process behind the creation of KAY/O in a Q&A sent to Twinfinite and confirmed that they wanted to instill a bit of “back to the basics” when it came to the new agent’s inputs.
KAY/O has a focus on skill grenade shots, and its ability to suppress enemies creates situations where players will need to rely on their skill with a gun, rather than their abilities. So if that’s where your advantages lie, KAY/O seems like it could be an interesting pick for you.
KAY/O will be released into Valorant starting on June 22. Haven’t dove into Valorant yet? Check out our review and see if it’s for you.
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